Broncos wide receiver Eric Decker gets pulled down from behind by Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly after a short gain in the first quarter of the Broncos' 36-14 victory Sunday in Charlotte, N.C. The Broncos won their fourth game in a row and scored more than 30 points for the sixth time this season.

Broncos linebacker Von Miller points to the crowd after crushing running back Jonathan Stewart and causing a fumble.

Q: Where are the trouble spots, if any, in the Broncos’ remaining schedule?

A: Don, with the Buccaneers’ win over the Chargers on Sunday, there are now two teams that currently have winning records remaining on the Broncos’ schedule — Baltimore and Tampa Bay.

And just in case the pocket schedule isn’t in your pocket, here are the Broncos’ remaining games in consecutive weeks:

San Diego (4-5), Kansas City (1-7), Tampa Bay (5-4), Oakland (3-6), Baltimore (7-2), Cleveland (2-7) and the Chiefs on Dec. 30 to close out the regular season.

Those teams are a combined 23-38 and for the most part the numbers say their struggles have been bigger, as a group, on defense.

There is only one top 15 defense among them — the Chargers, at No. 7 in total defense after Sunday’s games — and the Broncos just scored 35 points on San Diego last month. Total defense, which the league uses in its defensive rankings, is yards allowed per game.

There are no top 10 scoring defenses remaining on the Broncos schedule with the Chargers sitting at No. 11 and the Ravens sitting at No. 13 despite the piles of yardage the team has uncharacteristically surrendered this season. Oakland is 31st in scoring defense while the Chiefs are 29th and the Browns are 20th.

With the Falcons’ loss to the Saints on Sunday, the Broncos are now also tied for the longest active win streak in the league. The Broncos, Packers and Colts have all won four games in a row.

The Packers are coming off a bye, while the Colts won their fourth consecutive game this past Thursday night.

So, the quick answer is the Ravens and the Buccaneers present the biggest speed bumps for the Broncos right now. And other than Peyton Manning with his six 300-yard passing games in the past seven outings, there may be no quarterback hotter than the Buccaneers’ Josh Freeman right now.

Freeman has thrown 13 touchdowns to go with just one interception in his last five games combined, a run that includes three-touchdown games against Kansas City, New Orleans and Minnesota. The Buccaneers will also provide the Broncos with an up-close look at running back Doug Martin, the player Tampa selected with the 31st pick of last April’s draft, a pick they acquired from the Broncos.

Martin is tied for fourth in the league in rushing with 862 yards. But of bigger concern for the defenses that still have to face him is the fact he is one of just four running backs in the league who have both at least 100 carries and are averaging at least five yards per carry.

The Broncos have surrendered two 100-yard rushing games to opposing running backs this season — 105 yards to Arian Foster and 151 yards to Stevan Ridley — but none in the last five games. Ravens running back Ray Rice, Martin and Peterson are all tied for second in the NFL with seven rushing touchdowns — all behind Foster’s 10.

And since the Patriots and the Texans already own head-to-head wins over the Broncos, the Broncos still have plenty of work to do over the last seven games of the regular season to be in the AFC’s mix for any sort of playoff bye.

The Ravens also own a better record at the moment. So, the Broncos have a pile of circumstances that should keep their attention in the coming weeks, at least if they’re serious about what they would like this season to be.

And the most glaring of those is the team’s failure to close out so many seasons since their last trip to the AFC championship game to end the 2005 season. They lost their last three games last season, lost six of the last seven in the 4-12 disaster of 2010, lost their last four in 2009 (eight of the last 10), lost their last three in 2008, lost four of the last six in 2007 and lost five of the last seven in 2006.

And with all the pleasantries being tossed at the Broncos right now and with more to come given some of the struggling teams they will face, their own performances of the last six seasons should provide the perfect remedy to prevent their current swagger from turning into misplaced confidence.

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